Senior guard Megan Bergerud capped her career as the all-time leading scorer in the history of the University of Illinois Springfield women’s basketball program in style by pouring in a career-high 31 points Thursday in her final game for the Prairie Stars.

She nearly had a victory to match, but the Great Lakes Valley Conference game slipped away from UIS in the last 2 minutes and McKendree rallied to an 83-78 win at The Recreation and Athletic Center.

The Stars led 38-32 at halftime and by as many as seven points in the second half. UIS took a 74-71 lead on freshman Jamie Cuny’s layup with 2 minutes 22 seconds left. McKendree responded by reeling off 10 straight points, and the Bearcats oustcored UIS 12-4 in the final 2 minutes after trailing most of the way.

“Tonight was kind of like our season,” UIS coach Chad Oletzke said. “We were never able to get everybody kind of going at the same time of making shots and defending. We were never able to get that back-breaking play.”

UIS shot 48.3 percent from the floor and made 12 of its 22 3-point attempts.

“We had a couple of good looks late,” Oletzke said. “We certainly had our chances. They just weren’t able to go in. They got hot late and were able to make some shots.”

Career best

The highlight was Bergerud, who was 11-for-19 from the field and 5-for-8 at the 3-point line. She added four assists, two blocked shots and two steals. The 31-point effort topped her previous career high of 26 points, which she reached twice this season. She finishes with 1,348 career points.

“Megan played extremely well,” Oletzke said. “It was good to see for her last game.”

Sophomore Meredith Marti was the other UIS player in double figures with 12 points.

The Stars closed the season with a 7-19 overall record and 3-15 GLVC mark.